On Sunday, Sep 13 we left Knoxville, TN enroute to MN, just past Lexington, KY we got cought up in the winds from hurricane Ike. All the way in Kentucky! Winds gusted to 70 mph and we had to pull off I64 and point north so that we would not be hit broadside. I could not hold the motorhome on I64 traveling west. So we sat on the side of the road for 4 hours untill the wind died down.
We stayed for two days in Madison, WS and visited the new Harley Davidson Museum in Milwaukee, which was 80 miles away.
There was a section in the museum where one could design their own HD, so, below is my gem! My dream Harley?? It's below!
After 1637 miles, on Saturday, Sep 20, after 1637 miles, we arrived in Bemidji, MN at the Royal Oaks Campground to rondevouz with the others in our caravan. They include people from CA, WI, FL, MO, MD, IL, PA and SC. While touring the area, Millie enjoyed surveying the campground from the co-pilot's chair.
While at Bemidji, we toured Lake Itasca. the birthplace of the Mississippi River. From this humble beginning, the river flows 2,300 miles to the Gulf.
From Bemidji, we drove 103 miles to Brainerd, MN. There we toured the Charles Lindberg historic site in Little Falls, MN, his childhood home.
From Brainerd, we traveled southward 146 miles to the Twin Cities, Minneapolis - St. Paul. Two of the highlights here were Minnehaha Falls Park and seeing the Union Pacific Challenger which was visiting the city.
We also had a city tour, including the Minnesota Museum of Science, visited the Renaissance Festival, and bought nice fresh apples at a local farm.
From the Twin Cities we next traveled 210 miles south to Prairie du Chien, WI. So far, we've traveled a total of 2100 miles. Here, we visited Pikes Peak and the Effigy Mounds National Monument. This Pikes Peak overlooks the Mississippi River where it intersects with the Wisconsin River, across from Prairie du Chien
The Effigy Mounds are near Pikes Peak and are a collection of animal shape mounds about 2 feet in height, about 2,500 years old.
On Monday, Sep 29, we arrived in Galena, Il, where we toured the town and visited General U.S. Grant's home. In 1860 he moved from St. Louis to Galena with his wife and four children. We retraced his daily walk from the leather store on Main St. where he worked with his father and brother to his rented house on High Street. This walk included 175 steps and consisted of about 180 vertical feet. This was quite a hike for us. Below, I'm standing in front of the house he rented for $100/year, just prior to his volunteering in the Union Army at the outbreak of the Civil War.
By Friday, Oct 3, we were in Hannibal, MO, having traveled a total of 2538 miles. Here we visited Mark Twain historic sites. On the way, we stopped at Nauvoo, Il where we explored the restored homes and businesses of the Mormons, from where they departed to build a settlement in Utah. One of these businesses is that of the cooper or barrel maker. Here I'm sitting on the schnitzelbank shaping the wooden staves that form a barrel. This is quite nostalgic for me since my grandfather in Germany was a cooper.
Hannibal and the Mark Twain provided a perfect backdrop for our group picture. Before you are the owners and guests of the 20 Winnebago product motor homes in our caravan. I'm in the yellow jacket, lower center; Lill is right next to me in the red jacket. Boy, do we stand out?
In Hannibal, we toured the Mark Twain home and saw the houses that inspired Clemens to write about his youth here.
While in Hannibal, we visited a train museum which contained a real nice model train display.
On Oct 5, we arrived in St. Louis, 2656 miles from Sun City. On the way, we saw lock 24 in Clarksville, MO, about halfway between Hannibal and St. Louis.
In St. Louis, we had a city tour that included the Anheuser-Busch brewery and the Gateway Arch. From our RV site we could see the arch and the city.
En route to Memphis, we stayed in Cape Girardeau, MO. It's a small historic town on the Mississippi River that has an interesting painted flood wall.
From Cape Girardeau, we traveled to Graceland RV Park in Memphis, TN, right across the street from Elvis' home. We are now 2971 miles into our trip.
In Memphis, we also toured Mud Island, Beale St (music, beer & ribs), and the Pink Palace museum and IMAX theater. I ate a full slab of Memphis ribs for three days running. Man! They were good. The closest we have on Hilton Head is the Smokehouse.
From Memphis we traveled 242 miles to Edwards, MS where we toured Vicksburg and the National Military Park on Oct 13th. Below is a picture of the historic Vicksburg Court House.
After a total of 3,328 miles we arrived in Vidalia, LA, just across the river from Natchez. 80 miles of this was along the Natchez Trace from Jackson, MS to Natchez.
From our campsite we had an excellent view of Natchez, the Mississippi, and the bridge from Natchez to Vidalia. Vidalia has a beautiful paved walkway on top of the levee that extended from our campground 1.5 miles up river to the front of the landing at Natchez. The town of Vidalia is set a mile inland from the river due to flooding.
We toured Natchez including the Auburn historic home, ca. 1812, a postcard of which we sent to Michelle who is at Auburn in Alabama. We also toured Frogmore Plantation and got to pick cotton and see an historic steam operated cotton gin dating from the early 1800s. On our free day we visited the Emerald Indian Mound on the Natchez Trace.
We arrived at Poche's Fish-N-Camp on Oct 17th in Breaux Bridge, LA, having traveled 3,491 miles. From here, we visited St. Martinville home of the Evangeline Oak and the Tabasco Factory.
Our final caravan stop was Lakeside RV Park, Livingston, LA, 3,572 miles from Sun City. Here, we toured New Orleans, World War 2 Museum, French Quarter, and rode in a seaplane over New Orleans and environs.
Above is my cousin Bill Schmitz's Navel Base.
On Wednesday, Oct 22, our free day, we visited Oak Alley where we met the Parfits who were in our Caravan. At Oak Alley they were producing a TV movie "Midnight Bayou". After Oak Alley, we visited Laura Plantation. That night we had our farewell dinner.
Actors in "Midnight Bayou".
On Thursday, Oct 23, we had our farewell breakfast, the Great River Road Caravan was over. We left the caravan for Auburn, AL to visit Michelle. She gave us a tour of the campus on Saturday, Oct 25. Sunday, we left for home and arrived in the Sun CIty RV lot about 4:30 PM. On our way, we stopped at Sunshine RV Park, Castleberry, Al. The next morning we woke up to find the Quelets (Margie & Tom) camped right next to us. They had visited Douglas and Pat Lauck in Mississippi on their way up north to MD, who recommended the campground to them.
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